Think Railways

Belarusian Railways and Russian United Wagon Company (UWC) have announced signing  a strategic partnership to service freight cars equipped with Barber bogies in Belarus.

As part of this partnership, service facilities for freight cars with improved technical and economic characteristics equipped with Barber bogies have been established at all of Belarusian Railways' wagon depots, where the company is to provide maintenance services.  A warehouse for storing Barber bogie components has been set up at Saturn-1’s production facilities in Zhitkovichi, the Gomel region, to ensure that components can be quickly delivered to the repair site in Belarus.

In 2013, freight cars equipped with Barber bogies received permission to run interstate services. There is currently an extensive rolling stock servicing network, with more than 40 centers located across Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.

"This partnership is beneficial for all those involved in Belarus’transportation industry and it increases the competitiveness of the country’s railway service. Our fleet of innovative rolling stock is growing steadily and we hope that our joint efforts will help to accelerate the implementation of innovative solutions for the railway network", stated Alexander Archipenko, Head of Belarusian Railways' Railcar Operating Department.

"Enhancing the service network for new generation freight cars with our partners Belarusian Railways is an important step towards further developing rail transport in the 1520 gauge area, particularly in Belarus. Last year, the first cars equipped with Barber bogies were manufactured at Mogilev Carriage Works, and today Belarusian Railway is operating more and more new generation rolling stock. We believe the partnership between UWC and BZD has excellent prospects, and we intend to continue expanding the service network for freight cars equipped with Barber bogies across the CIS and Baltic states", commented Dmitry Losev, Deputy CEO for Technological Development at UWC.